Forgotten Lust
by Annilus
Summary: Naota has put the past behind him and moved on. He accepted the fact that she wouldn't come back, and soon he forgot who she even was. Now, 6 years later, the past decides to catch up with him. NaotaxHaruko.
1. Chapter 1: The Dream

He knew he wouldn't see Haruko again. Looking out after the pink-haired beauty while she road her vespa into space, he had known that. Why and how, he doesn't know, but that didn't bother him one bit.

What did bother him, was the plain fact that he would never lay his eyes on her slim, curvy figure, her short pink hair that hung down her head and met her shoulders, those glowing yellowish-green eyes that gleamed with mischief, those supple red lips he yearned to kiss, all gone, and never to come back.

He wished it wasn't so, but he can't deny what his heart tells him. He really did love her, and that was one thing that could never go away, no matter how much he convinced himself otherwise. After trying everything else, he decided to put up an illusion that it was only a childish crush on an older, more developed woman.

In the end, he ended up falling for that illusion, and soon enough she had vanished into the deepest recesses of his mind, buried behind everything else. It did the job, and he got on with his boring, average life. After a few years, as far as he was concerned, Haruko was just a long forgotten dream he had when he was young. Nothing more, nothing less.

* * *

It began like every other day had; boring and annoying. The only difference in today was that something new had happened. He graduated from High School. Naota had finally escaped the hell that was grade school and entered another hell called college.

He already decided on buying an apartment with the money he got from his father's book, which had gotten sudden popularity and gave them a good amount of wealth, which he forced Kamon to give some to him for buying an apartment. It was of medium size, with the rent pretty average and the initial cost cheaper then most.

It had a small bathroom that was connected to a reasonably sized bedroom, and a living room that doubled as a kitchen. Not too bad compared to the other ones he saw, which had pretty much everything combined into one small space.

He decided against a dorm room for the sole reason of the fact that he would have to share. He hated sharing with anyone, and he decided that he wanted something that he himself owned. Now all he had to do was find a job and he will be set to living life on his own. Unfortunately, it wasn't as easy as it sounded.

He really had absolutely no clue where he should look for work. He figured that he might have to work at something small like a grocery store at first, then see if he can find something with a better salary. The college he was going to was specifically for robotics design and programming.

He became interested in robots after that weird dream he had when he was twelve, and began to study them ever since. He gained quite a bit of knowledge of them from the robot-maid that stayed at his house. He doesn't quite remember where the robot had come from, but he never really thought about it for long.

It taught him a great deal about how robots work and what working designs looked like using text and pictures that appeared on the t.v screen that doubled as its head. After finishing high school with honors, he decided he would pursue his passion for robots and ended up getting into the robotics college that resided in the town.

Now he was here, in his apartment, laying down under the covers on his bed and trying to get some sleep. He would have to move the stuff from his old house into here tomorrow, and he wanted to get a good rest before he started. Even so, he couldn't seem to drift off into that euphoric state called sleep. Apparently, shutting his eyes as tight as humanly possible and screaming at his mind to turn off didn't work as well as it used to.

After ten minutes of trying to force sleep upon himself, he got up off the bed and went to the kitchen, taking out the one glass he took with him to the apartment and filling it with water. With one swift gulp, he swallowed down the tasteless liquid and set the cup onto the counter. Opening the small window above the sink, he looked out into the night sky.

He felt an odd tingling sensation run up his spine, but he just shouldered it off as a reaction to the cold air that came rushing in. Staring intently at the full moon that floated in the sea of black, he began to drift into his thoughts that seemed to attack him relentlessly.

Closing his eyes, images of a vibrant pink-haired woman appeared beside a younger version of me, with her holding said person in a headlock and grinning devilishly, came suddenly and seemed like I was actually looking at it in real life. I felt my head burning up and started to see a huge horn pop out of the forehead of my younger self. It turned into a hand, which in turn turned into a body, and then it started to become the pink-haired girl that was beside me.

She pulled out of my head and had a wild grin spread across her face. She held a guitar in one hand and wore a bunny outfit that looked oddly out of place. She suddenly turned around and swung the guitar at the younger me, hitting him square in the head and sending him far back. A few moments later, a giant flaming bird rose into the sky and pierced the air with a sharp screech.

The sudden vision had frightened him and he ripped open his eyes, the moon glaring brightly in his sight. He slowly turned his eyes away from the night sky and moved back to his bedroom, not bothering to close the window. He moved stiffly, not paying any attention to his surroundings. He dropped onto his bed, forgetting his covers, and fell into a deep sleep almost immediately.

* * *

I tore my head to the left, hearing a loud screech that sounded as if it was escaping from death. I stared wide-eyed at a large, flaming red being that rose to the sky as if pulled by strings. It had large wings that was the size of a skyscraper, and had fiery feathers that seemed to reach out to the depths of space. I squinted my eyes and tried to make out what the thing was, and soon made it out as a falcon molded out of lava.

The wings suddenly flicked down towards the ground and swiftly rose high into the sky, shaking the ground violently. I struggled to keep my footing while the earth rumbled and continued to stare after the creature that had caused the world to spin. After the last light of the giant bird left the sky, I heard a female voice curse not to far away from me. I turned toward the voice sharply, wondering who it could have been.

My eyes laid on the voice of the young woman sitting on a large, floating motorcycle, gaping openly at what I saw. She was beautiful, with her short light-pink hair stopping at her shoulders and mischievous yellow-green eyes looking out after the giant falcon that had disappeared into the universe. She turned her head towards me and looked at me sharply, as if blaming me for his escape. She then closed her eyes and let out a sigh, parting her lips slightly. He felt an urge to kiss those lips, but knew that she wasn't for him.

"Well, thanks to you, Ta, I've lost that bastard again. You want to come with me? No, it'd never work out. You're still a kid, after all." She started up her vehicle and drove through the air, going up over the clouds. I didn't know why, but at that moment I felt like a lost, abused puppy. A shimmer atop a flat rock caught my eye, and I maneuvered my way over to it. It was a Rickenbacker Bass. I wasn't sure why I knew its name, but all the same I lifted it up off the rock and held it up. I felt moisture build up in my eyes, but I blinked it away and gave a little smile. It was a smile of resignation.


	2. Chapter 2: The Pool

**AN: Sorry this chapter is so late in coming; no excuse can make up for the long wait, so instead I'll ask for forgiveness and hope you enjoy this chapter. The plot hasn't really kicked in yet, but the general idea I have for this story will prove slow-paced -- at least at first. I hope to upload new chapters in a more timely manner, as your support for this story really makes me quite happy, and I wish to see more of it in the future.**

* * *

I woke up with a start, pondering the dream I'd just had. A flaming bird and a hot chick on a vespa was crazy, even for a dream, but what unsettled me the most was how _real_ it felt. It was like I was watching the final scene in the movie of my childhood, but there's no way that could have happened, right? I mean, let's be realistic here; a giant lava falcon fleeing from a little kid and a young woman into space is a bit of stretch in realistic terms; if you take into consideration how utterly dull this city is – a place where nothing interesting ever happens, nor ever will happen – it seems literally impossible. So why do I feel so very nostalgic?

Deciding that thinking on this any more so early in the morning will surely cause my head to explode (or perhaps grow a horn), I made the transition from bed to bathroom and let my robot-friend clean me up. Yes, I have a robot that takes care of the boring necessities for me; everybody needs one, right? Actually, he's one of the first robots I've built, and by far my favorite. He's a little outdated – with the rapid-fast advancement of robotic technology, any robot built more than six months ago is considered old – but he's served me well for many years, and he's not showing signs of breaking down anytime soon.

After the toiletries and such were complete, instant ramen was my next course of action. I've sworn to live on this stuff throughout college (or at least until I get a good job and learn how to cook), and so I've filled my cupboard with piles upon piles of the stuff. Tastes satisfactory, wonderfully easy to prepare, and cheap as dirt; what's not to like? After pouring hot water into the cup, I ate silently at the table, taking the time to brood over what I'd do today.

Job-hunting might be the best course of action, but I've been doing it the whole week and have only applied for a single job, of which I was rejected almost immediately; seems like a previous applicant decided they wanted it, and I was outta luck. Deciding I needed a break from another dreary day of searching, I started considering a trip to the pool. They'd built an indoor leisure center recently, and I hadn't gotten the chance to see it yet, so it might be a little interesting to check out.

Deciding on the center, I finished up my ramen and tossed it in the garbage, put on a light jacket and slipped into my sneakers, checked to make sure my wallet was in the coat-pocket, and locked the door behind me. The cool brusque wind was a welcome wake-up slap; sleep still drooped beneath my eyes, the weight of which had my eyelids fighting to stay even slightly open. After giving the sockets a good hard rub, I descended down the flight of stairs towards the concrete sidewalk lining the unsurprisingly empty road. Mabase had gotten an influx of traffic ever since the prestigious robotics school opened up, and with it robotics corporations and research centers, but this side of the city still stood happily underpopulated. Which, in my opinion, is a big plus; I hate the hustle and bustle of the corporate world, the incorrigible noise frustrated my ears to no end.

As the indoor pool – like everything else worth noting in this city – is located in the opposite end of where I live, I had to take the painfully slow bus, courtesy of the eighty-year old geezer driving it. Nothing against the man; he always gets me safe to my location, and for that I am eternally grateful, but he drives like he's afraid he'll run over an imaginary snail that always conveniently paces itself ahead of us. After enduring the hour-long bus-ride that would've taken any sane man half the time, I walked the short distance from the bus stop to the leisure center, taking the time to watch a flock of birds shit in unison upon the statue of the first mayor of Mabase.

The inside of the building was nothing special, nor was the receptionist that greeted me and took my money. I noticed the place was relatively empty (it wasn't exactly prime time, being around 8:00 am), but I didn't care in the slightest; I enjoyed my alone time, no denying that. Then I realized I forgot to bring a swimsuit. Cursing my idiocy, I walked back up the stairs and asked the girl behind the desk if she had any spares. Luckily for me, they lent out nice black speedos for a cheap price of ten dollars, which I payed for with an especially sour expression on my face. After changing into the ugly rubber suit, I slipped into the scarcely-populated but pleasantly warm bowl of water.

I shut my eyes and let the warmth surround my senses, a sigh of content escaping my lips. I hadn't felt this relaxed in a long, long time, and I was truly grateful for the luxury after a long week of stress. After what must have been nearly an hour, I felt the water shudder and small waves of the liquid splash against my chest. I could all but feel the presence of another person, so I opened my eyes to gaze upon the intruder; what I saw made my heart leap into my throat: wet, light-pink hair tickled bare slender shoulders; soft, full lips parted ever-so-slightly; intense, pale-yellow eyes looked out under heavy bangs; she looked so strikingly familiar, yet at the same time seemed like a complete stranger.

My heart beat so fast it felt like it'd burst from excitement – or was it fear? Whatever it was, I'd never felt it before, and that notion itself frightened me. She walked slowly towards me, so painstakingly slow that I thought she'd been suspended in time; it felt like an eternity had passed before she came into arms length. My mouth too seemed to be frozen, as I wasn't able to sound the thoughts that ran through my mind. Only one word escaped my statuesque self, though the word itself seemed foreign to my lips.

"Haruko?"

* * *

"Hey, are you okay? Hey, hey! Wake up, will ya?"

I forced my to eyes crack open, and the world come sputtering into view. I felt cold linoleum under my shoulders, and heard a voice, probably male, shouting something about somebody being okay, but the water in my ears made it hard to make out. I pushed myself up into a sitting position and shook the water and grogginess from my head before trusting my feet to hold me up. As I looked around and processed the view, the memory of what I was doing finally hit me.

"Where's the girl?" I asked the man in front of me, my speech a little slurred.

"Girl? What girl?"

"Pink hair, greenish-yellow eyes, nice figure; you know, a girl. Where'd she go?" I replied, a little annoyed at having to speak any more than I needed to.

"Pink hair, you say? Don't think I saw her. You sure she was here? I was in this pool the whole time, and I didn't see any girl with pink hair or anything. Hey, besides that, are you okay? You've been out for a while, you know..." He droned on about my fainting and other nonsense, but I tuned him out.

But wait, he said he didn't see her...how can that be? There's no way I dreamed that, was there? Dammit, I've had _enough_ of my mind playing tricks on me -- looks like I've got no choice. I didn't think I'd have to see that annoying fake of a shrink again, but this is getting too weird for me to sort out on my own. If I can't even shut my eyes for a second without this random chick popping up to terrorize me, I don't think I'll hold onto my sanity for much longer.

Whoever this Haruka is, she won't be troubling me for much longer; only thing is, I'm not even sure If I _want _her to stop....

* * *

**Thank-you for reading! Leave me a review if you enjoyed it, and want to see more.**


	3. Chapter 3: The Girl

**A/N: **Sorry it's been so long folks, seems like I've made a habit of updating on a 2-year schedule. Hopefully I can break out of that and post more often, but no guarantees. Anyways, hope you like this chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own the show, blah blah blah, who really reads this anyways?

* * *

"So, you're saying that a woman -"

"Girl. Pink hair, yellow eyes, _not _a woman." I interrupted, feeling aggravated at the shrink's drawling tone. This..._girl _is not a woman, not by any standards, no way in hell is she shapely or beautiful or in the possession of striking and mesmerizing eyes that bore into your soul that, uh, she's not a woman.

"Right, err, _girl _is continually... 'apparating', in front of you?" The shrink made sure to drag out the word apparating, as if his disbelief wasn't already apparent.

"Yes, apparating, and no, I'm not making this up. Listen, you're a doctor, aren't you? You went to school, got your PHD in psychiatry, and have the know-how to treat my, well, you know how to make these visions go away, right? So, give me some of those drugs you prescribe, and let's get this over with." I spoke curtly, too annoyed to put up with this man's incessant need to drag out these useless sessions. I want a good night sleep, I want these visions to stop, and I won't get either without the safety seal of a certified doc.

"I don't appreciate you trying to dictate my business, little one. Now, I'll be nice and keep this short: You don't need a prescription, and you don't need my help. Go home and get some sleep, and stop wasting my time with lust-addled visions of your high-school sweetheart." With that, the shrink closed his folder full of useless papers and placed the reading glasses he doesn't even need on his desk, suggesting a finality to the discussion.

"You're _kidding_ me, right? I paid you _fifty dollars_ for this bullshit? I didn't need somebody to tell me to get some fucking sleep, I need somebody to give me pills to stop these goddamn visions that are _not _of my high-school sweetheart, by the way. I don't know who this girl is, I don't know her name, except I do, and I can't handle this kind of stress right now alright? So you give me that prescription, or I swear I'll end this practice if it takes me my whole life, you hear me?" I stood up shouting by the end of it, feeling all of my anger and frustration boiling over and flushing my body bright red. I was ready to punch this incorrigible idiot for belittling my problems; feeling my fists clench and unclench, I knew if I didn't leave now I would level this old man and end up in jail because of it.

Realizing this, I stomped out of the room before I heard his reply, muttering a string of curses along the way. I answered the receptionist's inquisitive gaze with the middle finger and shoved open the front door, the cooling breeze of mother nature doing nothing to stave off my furious disposition.

The walk home was rather uneventful, leaving me to stew in my thoughts. That old bastard doesn't deserve to be called a doctor; how could he belittle my problems like that, what gave him the nerve? I thought he was a psychiatrist, whose job description was to help people with their problems, not aggravate them further!

I felt a shift in the air as I entered my apartment building, and I turned to see the manager's daughter looking right at me, as if I had a large bug on my face. "What?" I snapped, not in the mood for conversation.

"Oh, um, nothing, sorry. I mean, I need your payment for the month, my mother says I've gotta ask all the tenants to pay their rent because she's busy, and she says I'm cute and that helps with getting the men to pay. Not that I think she's right or anything, but um, she'll be mad at me if I don't at least ask, so-" Unable to listen to her blundering speech any more, I turned and continued up the stairs to my room, looking to finally end this torturous day. As I fumbled with the lock – damned thing never gave in the first turn – I heard the girl stumble up the stairs behind me, intent on her mission to extract the rent money from my hands.

"Dammit, why won't this lock. Just. Work." When the handle finally gave way, I ripped the door open and was on the verge of slamming it shut when I noticed an obtrusive foot barring its path.

"Please, I really need the money. Not for myself, for the rent. To give to my mother. The manager. Please?" The girl from before pleaded, fixing me with puppy eyes that would make most men melt. Unfortunately for her, I was not in a good mood, and I was not most men.

"Look, girl, I am _not _in the mood for this right now, okay? So if you would, please extract yourself from my doorway and bother somebody else, _please?_" I spit the last word with venom, hoping it would get my message across. Unfortunately, this girl was completely oblivious.

"It's three hundred, but if you don't have all of the money right now, I'll just come back later for the rest. So, um, maybe just a hundred for now? Or anything is fine, really, I just can't go back empty handed – please, mister, you're my only hope."

Man, this girl would not give up.

"Fine, fine! Come in, make yourself at home, brew some tea while you're at it. I don't care!" I left the door open and stormed into my room, plopping onto the first seat I could find; fortunately, it was my favourite piece of furniture. Sinking into the soft leather couch, I felt my muscles relax and my stiff shoulders drop, thankful for the familiar comfort of my home. I lay down on the couch, my impromptu visitor forgotten with the forced blankness of my mind. I felt a headache coming on as I slung my arm over my forehead, willing away the bright light that attacked my iris'.

"So, um, you said to make tea?" The meek female voice broke the heavy silence, startling me from my short rest.

"You're still here?" I spoke with annoyance, though tea was starting to sound like a very good idea. "Top right shelf, kettle's on the counter to the left of the sink."

I tuned out any sound after that, focusing only on the darkness that my elbow provided. I put all my effort into not thinking in an attempt to dampen my headache, but the concentration needed only made it worse. I sighed, removed my arm and sat upright, suddenly feeling a little uncomfortable. My head felt unnaturally heavy, so I pressed the palm of my hands against my forehead, as if it needed the extra support. I heard the swishing of a dress pass in front of me, and the clink of two cups set down on a table made me raise my eyes toward the sound. With a grumbled thanks, I sipped at the tea and leaned back against the couch, appreciating the warmth that spread throughout my body.

The silence was almost palpable as I slowly drank my tea, and I could feel the discomfort coming off in waves from the girl that sat across from me. When my mind finally cleared up to the point where I could hold a rational conversation, I broke the silence.

"So, you're here for the rent money, right?" At her nod of confirmation, I got up and headed towards my bedroom, where I kept my rent. Walking back out with the money in hand, I sat back down and placed the wad of cash on the table, pushing it towards her and taking up my tea once more.

I watched her curiously as she counted the money, nursing the hot drink all the while.

"Satisfied?" I smirked, amused at how she so studiously made sure of the amount a second time.

"Oh, um, yes, three hundred on the dot!" She gave me a warm smile, overjoyed that she'd finally gotten somebody to pay the rent. "You really saved me, mother would have been furious if I collected nothing the whole day. If...if you don't mind me asking your name, mister..." She trailed off, hope filling her gaze.

"Nandaba. But uh, you can call me Naota if you want, I guess." I suddenly felt shy, realizing just how cute this girl really is. She had soft brown hair that curled at her shoulders, a porcelain complexion that brought out the deep blue of her eyes, small curvy lips that lifted like a kitten's, and a dainty nose that tapered out just a bit. She was definitely of a short height, probably around 5'2", but that just enhanced her cuteness factor.

"Mine is Suzuki Haruko, but my friends calls me Haru. Nice to meet you, Nao-kun." Haruko reached out her hand, but I was too stunned to reciprocate.

You've got to be kidding me. Haruko? Is this the girl that's been haunting me? No, she doesn't look the same, not even a bit. But...maybe she's changed in the past 6 years? Wait, how did I know it's been six years?

My head started to pound as my thoughts spun out of control, and I pulled at my hair in a desperate attempt to divert the pain. I heard a faint voice laden with surprise and concern, but everything sounded erroneously far away, and I felt my consciousness slip into black.


End file.
